Wow. Sea level is fun! 3 mile tempo today in 17:46 and that was definitely just cruisin as I eased into it and was never really pushing it at any point. Just strong and fast more on the comfortable side of comfortably hard.

Trying right now to really dig into and commit to eating really well, which will hopefully bring me to a more ideal race weight and to potentially feeling even stronger/recovering better.

Between summer classes, fires, and heat wasn't really able to do any interval training/good workouts in the spring or summer, so pretty much the plan is to just use these next two months for a little more base-building, maybe gentle mileage bump, then bring it back down to 60-65 miles in the fall and run some good workouts and see if I can't do some sweet 5k/10k damage.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Hmm, not sure what to say about this one. I guess on the surface I went out to hard and died, but especially aerobically I never felt like I was dying by any means. Breathing felt deep and strong, but also smooth and regulated. Basically legs just wouldn't do it. Hills (uphill) felt awful and was definitely moving back on the field every time we went up.

Splits went:

5:38

5:48

6:04

6:25

7:38

6:17

62

Obviously from looking at the splits it seems like I just went out way to fast and died, and while that is probably part of it I never felt intense lactic buildup or pain in the chest or elsewhere. It was just like my legs got weaker and weaker in miles 3 and 4 and then by the time I got to 5 I was pretty beat mentally. Had to stop for like 15s for a side stitch, but even after resuming was relegated (or maybe mentally deflated to) basically an easy jog pace. Was that way for maybe half a mile and then eventually some women came up on my running really fast for where we were relatative to pace and I found a groove and grinded for the last .75 or so to beat her. Most of that was probably sub 6 or right around there with a very solid move to pull away in the last 300m or so.

So basically first 2 miles were okay, even if my legs didn't feel super snappy, miles 3,4, and 5 went from bad to complete shit, and then mile 6's latter half and finish were damn good. Can't say I entirely understand what went wrong...or maybe this is just the way it feels when you die in the 10k...

Probably doesn't help that I am in the middle of trying to run 85 mile weeks as well as having a little bit of a caloric deficit going on.

On the plus side I probably did set a 5K pr somewhere in this race.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

2000 miles for the year, with 85 miles this week. Probably got carried away by the amount of uptempo running this week but...whatever. This next week is a cutback week anyway. After that probably 2-3 more weeks of 80-85 and then I'll start dropping back down towards the 60's and start trying to really get in a solid block of good, concerted speedwork...which I've never really had. Came close in late Aug/September of last year, but it was shorter than it should of been and not particularly well structured.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

foos, we can't read your mind. You'll get some decent advice on these boards, but you need to offer up more than what you did here and in the other thread you started.

For example, your running history, when you ran the 16:30, was that considered your best, what have you been doing for 15 years, how much are you willing to commit to running, are good places to start with background information.

Some 42 year olds have ran 16:30s, but that doesn't mean much for you w/out knowing more about your running history.

In any event...who knows? Especially without more information...like say your current fitness, a public running log, or anything of the sort. If I understand it right you last ran 16:30 at 42 years of age, so it sounds like you have time working against you pretty hard.

Off of......nothing, I would venture to say the answer is probably not unless you were running that 16:30 of very minimal and/or low mileage training. If you were running good volume, lots of solid workouts, etc. then I'm thinking it's unlikely.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Summer training starting to feel good now, probably doesn't hurt it's been a good 10-15 degrees cooler. Easy run pace seems to have been gradually working it's way down, and I had a really solid tempo the other day of 3 miles around 6:30 pace over VERY hilly terrain, 10 minute or so rest, and then another 2 miles at around 6:15 pace over moderately hilly terrain that felt borderline easy.

Pretty excited for the fall racing fun to start soon, and first workout on the track tomorrow in like forever. Probably just some 400s relatively fast with lots of recovery to get some speed/turnover going.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Still trying to decide what to do with this. Initially when I made the thread it was as much for accountability to myself as it was for advice and feedback. That said, I'm long past the point of having motivational issues with running, as the whole process is way to enjoyable for me.

Seems like a thread like this would better belong in "Look What I Can Do" or something though, rather than general running thread.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Where ever it is it is still interesting to many of us. What is your next race?

If that is the case I'll keep updates coming. Next race will either be this Saturday (Mine to Mine 9k) or RMAC 8k Open the following Saturday.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Mile Repeats - Good workout. Ran under control the whole time. Did 2 min recovery before each one, except for the third where I took a 3:00 recovery. Splits of 6:12, 6:18, 6:01, 5:47, 5:42. First two net up, 3rd one level, last two net down over a rolling trail. Would have done one more, but my foot was starting to complain some.

400s/600s - Shitty workout. Or maybe shitty mindset. Felt hard and difficult right from the start. Was trying for 8x600m w/2:00 recovery, but ended up going 600/400 to get through with it. Splits of 74, 2:02, 79, 2:02, 79, 2:03. Probably could have kept going, but the foot started to both me good so I smartly shut it down

Overall a pretty darn good week, with the exception of Thursday and the foot. Honestly I'm probably being too ambitious with where my fitness is with target pace workouts on the track, but Thursday still shouldn't have felt as tough as it did, given that last week I came through first 800 in 2:41 and it felt fine, but Thur. I was hurting by 400m at that pace.

Foot is weird. It's in the left foot and is discomfort on the bottom of my foot right where the middle 3 toes meet the body of the foot. The discomfort is really random. Sometimes it feels fine on a run, once it get better on a run. Another time it felt good on the run and then when I walked up to class started really hurting, only to feel 100% 15 minutes later after sitting. Took Friday off because it seemed moderately aggravated on Thursday and yesterday and today felt fine on the run though I notice it ever so slightly walking around the house right now.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

For the record, groin injuries suck. One of these days maybe this thing will heal up and I can get back out there.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Was out with a groin/hip injury for about a year and a half. Not fun, not fun at all. All I can say is if you get groin injuries...take them seriously. Don't try to be bull headed and come back to fast. And especially try to avoid sliding on ice when you already have one.

Thankfully, after many periods of wondering if I would need surgery (FAI fears anyone?) or would ever be able to run the same again it gradually went away. Life seems to be symptom free now. There is no guarantee it will stay this way, but everything looks promising at the moment.

Right now my main gameplan is a VERY conservative return. I've been out for 18+ months, I can handle taking awhile to get back into it making sure I come back healthy. I'm planning to increase about 10 miles per week every 1-2 months. Supplemental training on the elliptical/stairmaster/bike pool. I was doing 60-70mpw pre-injury, but am thinking I will return at 45-50 at most and supplement with the gym equipment at least through 2014.

On the plus side, I didn't really waver during the injury. I dutifully put in 7-8 hours a week on the elliptical (this was tedious...especially when it was nice out in the summer). Absolutely the best decision I have ever made. Kept the weight gain down to only about 20 lbs, and honestly it seems I was new enough to training that I actually gained fitness. I seem to be running better now off of 10-15 mpw of running and +10lbs than I was pre-injury.

Which leaves me very optimistic. If I stay patient and smart about coming back, and keep eating clean like I have been the last month I think 2014 can be a monster season. It's going to be fun!

If anyone has thoughts and experience with injury comebacks I'm 100% open to suggestions, or if you want to know more about how I dealt with my injury I'm an open book. Ask away.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."

Would have been nice if I could have biked...but that definitely aggravated it, never could figure out why that didn't work and elliptical did.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."